“If you’re not willing to write it down, you are not willing to do it.”
~ Fred Kewley.
I ended Part One of this post with encouragement, and a recognition of the power of writing-it-down. Journaling. Planning. Contracting. Dreaming. Declaring. Self-dialoguing as it were. I continue to beat that drum, and encourage everyone, and I truly mean everyone, to write “it” down.
It doesn’t matter what the ‘it’ is, simply write. An Idea…. a question that is being pondered…. a frustration…. a novel concept. Stuff that bangs around inside the head that is “making you” feel cray-cray? Write it out. The fleshing out of a Dream? The recognition of an “oops,” the need to make amends, a burgeoning new potential lifestyle? Flesh it out; Write it out.
Poet/Author David Whyte says this about writing: “[It] ….is often the art of overhearing yourself say things you didn’t know you knew. It is a learned skill to force yourself to articulate your life, your present world or your possibilities for the future. We need that same skill as an art of survival. We need to overhear the tiny but very consequential things we say that reveal ourselves to ourselves.”
Amen brother! Those ‘tiny but very consequential things‘ are Huge. Game-changers for the manner in which one tends to look at old hurtful, or new empowering, moments. Ah-ha moments abound. They ‘click’, shift, and change how one carries an old story.
Also, as an fyi, a delightful moment happens when one makes the decision to stop telling that old drama story, especially to Self. Freedom abounds. Space, like a deep breath, opens up inside. And here’s a promise……and I rarely use that word: Your friends and loved ones, and complete strangers in a waiting room or on the bus (hahaha!) will thank you. They’ve heard the old stories ad nauseum. They can quote the dialogue (often diatribe!) with perfect timing. With appropriate inflection. Yes….. Give both of you a break!
I journal at least ten minutes each morning. Usually before I start stepping into my rest-of-the-day. (Of course, not before the morning beverage of my choice. And a good-morning morning greeting while sitting on the screened porch sipping on my cuppa.) This is followed by a short daily reading: an affirmation card from Louise or Esther, a today’s- message from One Day at a Time, SOM, another 12-step, spiritual, sometimes-in-my-face (lovingly) reading. Two minutes. Then, time to journal.
I personally have tried the ‘free-floating what am I thinking” process, and will stare off into space. I find if I have a prompt, I write best. Possibly a thought triggered by the morning meditation/affirmation reading.
Most usually though, I pick-one-a-day weekly Reviews:
- of my ‘Word’ for the year, and how it has shown up over the past week and how well I have stayed true to it. (I chose it for a reason,)
- of alternating one of the 5 strings of Values I’ve chosen for this year, and am I seeing that path unfold, or ignoring it for lame, lazy reasons
- the past week and what has occurred/what learnings am I taking away from it
- recognition of the Abundance and Prosperity (not just money, honey) that has occurred the past seven days. Psst….helps to keep-it-coming, when I acknowledge the presence, and the woohoo’s.
- the monthly Wants and Intentions that I’ve “said I want” ~ progress not perfection
- and then, a daily quick-er contemplation of what-about-this-day-at-hand
Sounds like a lot. It’s really not. Ten- plus minutes of my morning. That’s all. 1/144th of my day. (1440 minutes in a day; you do the math.) All of this is Before electronic devices, before texts and computer, before runnin’-and-gunnin’, and, heaven knows, before any newscast. A momentary oasis of me with me. Then I can step into ‘other’ with a greater sense of balance. And direction.
To follow Dorothea Lange’s recommendation: “The contemplation of things as they are, without error of confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention.”
What is being discovered, and re-invented as it were, is a more-honest reflection of the person I see in the mirror each day. I rather like that chick!
So…. Grab the pen and paper, that quill and parchment, the crayon and wide-rule looseleaf, a pencil and notebook……whatever the writing utensil and logbook of your choice, and commence to discovering your Self.
In doing so, you will find yourself feeling more secure in voicing your ideas, opinions, beliefs. Actual correspondence has greater flow. Clarity and confidence rises to the top. And as Fred said: “If you’re not willing to write it down, you are not willing to do it.”
1/144th of your day.
Namaste’